Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Larissa FastHorse’s pointed satire THE THANKSGIVING PLAY arrives on Broadway sharper than ever

• By drediman
• April 27, 2023
• No Comments

Last night at the Helen Hayes Theatre, I attended Second Stage’s Broadway mounting of Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play, which arrives on the Great White Way after having played Off-Broadway back in 2018 (courtesy of Playwrights Horizons). In short, the play is a satire about four woke white theater-makers who attempt to devise a Thanksgiving play for elementary school students. As you can imagine, things don’t go nearly as smoothly as they’d like.

Times have changed notably since the play’s premiere nearly five years ago at the tiny Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharpe Theater. Luckily, Ms. FastHorse has updated the piece to reflect the current climate, happily to even more hilarious effect, resulting in a play that’s sharper and more relevant that I remember it being. It’s as if the play has come into its own just in time for its Main Stem outing. As funny as The Thanksgiving Play is – to be sure, it’s one of the funniest evenings to be had currently on Broadway – it’s even more potent as a critique on “wokeness” with its labyrinthine arguments that first lead to delirious absurdity and then ultimately to literally nowhere at all in a sort of stalemate paralysis.

The current Second Stage production of The Thanksgiving Play has been astutely staged by Tony-winning director Rachel Chavkin. For play’s Broadway debut, she’s assembled a stellar cast, led by comedically gifted two time Tony-winner Katie Finneran as an eager theater director whose good intentions go awry. She’s joined by fellow cast members D’Arcy Carden, Chris Sullivan, and Scott Foley, all of whom are first rate. Together, they conjure inspired mayhem while provoking the mind.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE THANKSGIVING PLAY
Broadway, Play
Second Stage Theater at the Helen Hayes Theater
1 hour, 30 minute (without an intermission)
Through June 4